Every December, lovers of photography come to Studio Altius to view a collection of the best photography created in that year from St. Louis area photographers. This show celebrates photographers, professional and amateur, across all genres. It is the culmination of a contest to find the best of the best in St. Louis. We want to see what our best photographers have SEEN! The finalist images have been selected by a blind jury and will be displayed in the SEEN 2011 show at Studio Altius throughout the month of December and part of January.

I went to have a sneak peak at the SEEN 2011 photo contest tonight, and, well, I am now content that just 3 of my 9 submissions made it in as finalists. There really are so many fabulous photos in this contest and I am pleased to have taken a few that are among them, in the categories Flora, Architecture, and Photojournalism. If you are in St. Lou and need some Saturday evening plans tomorrow, come on out!

Three other things I discovered tonight are: 1) that I don’t have to be that worried about overworking my images, 2) I might have to experiment with large glossy or matte prints, and 3) that I think I have discovered the photographer I want to be when I grow up. David McWhirter’s work is amazing, and he has stellar work in most of the categories of SEEN 2011.